Schoolboy smashes fundraising target in charity chop for big sister

A nine-year-old boy from Macclesfield has had his long locks cut off for charity, after his sister, Martha, had a lifesaving liver transplant earlier this year.

Alfie Hodgkinson, a year 5 pupil at Parkroyal Community School in Macclesfield, organised a sponsored haircut to raise funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, a charity providing free ‘home away from home’ accommodation and support for families with a sick child in hospital.

Alfie’s mum, Lisa, a 45-year-old administrator at Parkroyal Community Preschool, explained why the charity is so close to her family’s heart:

“In April this year, following a difficult battle with a rare liver disease, our 11-year-old daughter Martha underwent a liver transplant operation at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. This meant a lengthy stay in hospital, two hours away from home.

“It was a challenging time for the whole family, but being offered a room at the Ronald McDonald House Birmingham next to the hospital meant Alfie and his younger brother Harry could visit Martha, have a space to play, and maintain a level of normality, allowing us to be together as a family.”

Ronald McDonald House Charities UK is an independent Charity, which operates 14 Houses across England, Wales, and Scotland, providing free ‘home away from home’ accommodation. The Houses keep families together, close to their children in hospital. They provide a place to sleep, cook and retain some sense of normal life; a lifeline for families at a very stressful time, especially when they are far from home.

Martha Hodgkinson, a year 6 pupil at Parkroyal Community School, has been back and forth to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for the past few years, having become sick when she was six. The family initially visited the Ronald McDonald House on a ‘Day Pass’, a programme allowing parents, carers and siblings to use House facilities such as the communal laundries and kitchens, even if they aren’t staying overnight.

Lisa said:

“For the past three years or so, Martha’s had regular hospital appointments in Birmingham and over time, they’ve become more frequent, as her disease has progressed. Having the House to retreat to, was a Godsend, but it really came into its own at Easter, when we received a call to say a donor had been found, and Martha was admitted for her transplant just three months after being added to the waiting list.”

While Lisa slept on a chair next to Martha’s hospital bed, her husband Shaun stayed just a stone’s throw away, at the Ronald McDonald House.

Lisa said:

“The House made our traumatic hospital stay more manageable. It meant I had somewhere comfortable and homely to escape to, away from the clinical environment of the ward. When she was well enough, Martha came over to the House in her wheelchair and we treasured the time we spent together as a family; enjoying a takeaway and ‘Britian’s Got Talent’ in the Cinema Room was a particular highlight! It was a space to relax, which kept us sane.”

Having set out to raise £250, Alfie is delighted to have smashed his target by more than 300%, his total now sitting at £840. But Alfie’s altruism didn’t stop at fundraising for Ronald McDonald House Charities UK. The charitable youngster has also donated the 10 inches of hair he had cut off to the Little Princess Trust, which provides free real hair wigs to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. 

Natasha Swindell, Community Fundraiser at Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, said:

“We are so proud of Alfie, as I know his parents are too, for setting himself this challenge and exceeding his fundraising goal by quite some way! It was our huge privilege to accommodate and support the Hodgkinson family during Martha’s surgery and recovery, easing some of the emotional and financial burden they were facing. We’re so pleased to hear she’s recovering well. Alfie’s determination to give something back is truly inspiring and will no doubt spur on others to consider raising money and awareness for our vital cause.”

To donate via Alfie’s fundraiser, please visit:

www.justgiving.com/page/lisa-hodgkinson-4 .

To find out more about Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, visit:

www.rmhc.org.uk.

• Ronald McDonald House Charities UK is an independent charity
• It was founded 35 years ago and, in this time, has supported just under 100,000 families
• In 2024, the Charity accommodated more than 8,288 families, who stayed for an average of 16 nights
• The Charity’s 14 Ronald McDonald Houses across the UK provide free ‘home away from home’ accommodation for families so they can be moments away from their child in hospital
• Ronald McDonald House Charities UK relies on the generosity of supporters and fundraisers, including McDonald’s customers, without whom it would be unable to continue its work